OPINION: PM vacates while country is in national crisis

Not since when the Japanese were on our doorstep have we seen a prime minister vacate his nation and seek refuge in a foreign land.

NOT since when the Japanese were on our doorstep and the Brisbane Line was envisaged have we seen a prime minister vacate his nation and seek refuge in a foreign land.

Robert Menzies headed for England and now Scott Morrison to an American outpost, Hawaii, while this country is in a national crisis.

How good is it when, every time you turn on a TV or radio, you hear how the country is either burning or its population being sizzled by heat, starved of water or oxygen or economically driven into poverty while the Government protects its failing mantra of a budget surplus.

No wonder the youth has lost faith politics and is taking things into their own hands.

Each and every day, I read or see people on the streets all over the world, rebelling against authoritarian, nepotistic, corrupt or just plain arrogant old people who have made their fortunes by manipulating the system they were elected to protect.

We have had the audacity to attack those people - whether it be a journalist, whistle blower or a 14-year-old kid - who chose to expose or highlight or hold to account the wrongdoers.

It sickens me even more when I read how us mature adults have chosen to use the autocratic moral high ground when questioned by youth, then expected those young people to go back to their rooms and behave.

If we had done our jobs and listened, planned and involved our youth, there would have been no need for rebellious actions but, no, we have continued thinking we are the keepers of all knowledge, and now we are reaping the crop we sewed.

Other nations have managed the succession of youth in business and politics in the national interest unlike us, where we see corporate interests supported by politicians as the norm.

We have become accustomed to thinking this actual island where we live is just a place that is supposed to keep on giving.

Well it's all over, red rover.

Mr Morrison's thoughts and prayers from his hotel in a Yank colony will be as effective as his understanding of what it takes to be a real leader who stands alongside those who are doing it rough.

WAYNE OFFER, Thagoona

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